UPDATE II: ‘We Have a Pope’ (Thankful That He is Not The American)

Such is the power and majesty of the Catholic Church that the excitement over the election of the new Vicar of Christ is sweeping the world.

All I can say, as an admirer of the Church, is this: I hope the new Pope is not The American (@ 11:08 am.)

More to come.

UPDATE I: Thankful That He is Not The American.

Argentine Italian Jorge Bergoglio, the new Pontiff, is Right on Church doctrine; Left on “social- justice” issues.

UPDATE II: Via Srdja Trifkovic:

Many of us non-RC traditionalist all over the world had awaited the news from Rome with some trepidation. In the end it turned out to be rather good. Pope Francis, the first non-European Bishop of Rome since Gregory III (d. 741), is universally described as “modest” and “moderate”—which is much preferred to the dreaded “bold” or “courageous,” in the sense that those words are used by the global media.
“He lives like a monk in a small apartment, travels by bus, and detests all vanity,” Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro told me when he heard the news. His Grace has visited Buenos Aires repeatedly in recent years as the Orthodox Diocesan Administrator, but he has not met Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who was mostly in Rome on those occasions. “I’ve heard from many local people, however, both lay and clergy, that he radiates a burning faith,” says the Metropolitan and adds that his simplicity and compassion for the poor go hand in hand with doctrinal firmness.